Number 3 in The Outcasts series
Denby Dumaresq trusts no one. Men. They always have an agenda
and she’s tired of being screwed over by them. She lives her life the way she
wants and she’s not about to change that. Love? Nope. Denby knows it doesn’t
exist. It’s just a means to control women.
Sirius Tate knows exactly what Denby is like. He made a huge
mistake when it came to her. He lost the woman he loved. Sirius wants to change
that and be back in her life. But he knows, Denby, being the independent woman
she is, isn’t about to make it easy for him.
Eventually they found a small motel right under the airport
flight path. Denby was too tried to care about that. “I could sleep on a barbed
wire fence,” she muttered as she flopped onto the double bed in the room they
had taken for the night.
“I wish you’d told me. It would’ve been cheaper to sleep on
barbed wire,” Sirius quipped as he dropped the car keys down on a bench.
Money. He had it. She didn’t. Denby felt guilty. She had been
the one who wanted to go. “I should pay.” Problem was, she wasn’t sure how.
“It’s okay, Denby,” he assured her as he sat down on the bed beside
her.
“I pay my way.”
“As I do I. Added to that, I chose to come.” He lay back on
the bedspread. “Arrrggghh, that feels good.”
She sat up. Him lying beside her was making Denby feel stuff
she didn’t want to feel. Memories of a hard, warm body tight against hers made
tense up. Sex right now would be totally inconvenient. Great, but awkward, with
her irrational need to still feel pissed off at him. It was hard to keep that
up when he was being so nice. “Well, I’ll buy dinner.” She reached for her duffle
bag and scrabbled through her meager belongings to find her purse. “Or not.”
She was broke but for three dollars, ten cents, a busted packet of mints and
some ants who had managed to find their way in for the mints.
“Denby,” Sirius murmured to her.
“What?” She turned to see his eyes closed. He had to be
knackered after driving for so long.
“While I’ve always loved your independence it’s okay for
either a man or a woman to depend on the other. It doesn’t mean one is less
than the other.”
Of course he was right. “I’m just used to looking after
myself.” She dropped the bag on the floor. Flee
while you have the chance, ants. Everything deserved to be free.
“I know and I don’t expect anything from you.”
“Oh.” She felt weirdly disappointed that he wasn’t so overcome
by lust he wouldn’t want to jump her bones then and there. Not that he has to. It’s not like I want sex or anything.
Sirius opened his eyes and smiled. “No, your virtue is safe.”
“Right.” Disappointment slammed into her. Okay, maybe I do want sex. Spending so
much time with him in the car had made her start to remember stuff she thought
she had squashed down.
“Disappointed?” He tilted his head and looked at her with
interest.
“No. Yeah. I don’t know.” He was a bastard. She hated him. He
did wrong by her. Yet I want him. How
confusing is that?
“Need sex?”
“It’s just being with you again—”
“Feels right?”
“Sorta. Anyway forget it.” There was no way she was going to
ask for sex.
“Nope, I can’t now.” Sirius kept his gaze locked on her eyes.
“Sex is handy to have with someone you already know as there are no ties or
expectations.”
“I suppose.” Handy?
Jeez, hardly romantic.
“And you could still consider me a bastard afterwards.” He
grinned at her.
Lordy, he’s lovely when
he smiles. “I was angry when I said that.”
“I know.”
Denby blew out a breath and contemplated her options. It was
just sex. They had done it before. It’d be no big deal if they did it again.
Right? “So, I suppose we could—”
“Yeah, we could.”
“You don’t sound that excited.” Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe
I’ll just use my fingers and memory later in the shower.
“Are you kidding me?” Sirius picked up her hand and placed it
on his crotch. “I’ve had a hard on since the millisecond I saw you.”
“Wow!” He was hard.
And all for me. It’d be a shame to waste
it. Denby licked her lips. She couldn’t believe how horny she was. But this
was Sirius and he was hard. It was a no brains required situation. “No strings
attached right?” Her fingers hovered above the metal tag of his zipper.
“Right.”
“And later we’ll act like nothing happened.”
“If you say so, darling.”
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